2019 Oregon Wine Symposium | Metrics that Matter: How to Leverage 2018 Data to Drive 2019 Success

Jim Agger has 15 years B2B sales and sales management experience in software-as-a-service and logistics. Before joining WineDirect, Jim held positions with WineAccess, ShipCompliant and FedEx Services. At FedEx, he was Subject Matter Expert in field sales and earned recognition as a top performer and leader (President’s Club and Five Star). He also created the landmark affinity relationship between the Wine Institute and FedEx. Jim was responsible for sales at ShipCompliant, a leading regulatory compliance SAAS provider. He played an integral part during its early years of explosive growth. Jim and his family live in Napa. He loves being a dad and all things outdoors.

Lesley is an accomplished wine industry entrepreneur and CEO with a focus on change management. Over the past 27 years in the wine industry she has started up the equivalent of nine new businesses, acquired and integrated four companies, and led during periods of dramatic change. As co-founder and former CEO of the Ambrosia Wine Catalogue/The Winetasting Network (which she sold in 2004), she has deep experience in consumer-direct marketing of fine wines. Lesley has served on the board of 11 wine-related companies and trade associations. In 2008, she co-founded the WISE Academy, which provides education, training and certification for winery consumer-direct professionals across wine regions throughout the United States and in New Zealand. In 2014 she co-founded SOLVE Services, which provides financial analysis, planning and decision support services for wineries. Today she spends most of her time coaching winery leaders through growth-related challenges and opportunities. Beyond wine, Lesley is a member of the YPO where she has held numerous local, regional and international board and leadership positions. Lesley is also a third-generation Napa Valley native from a grape growing family, with a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

With her unique background, including a degree in finance and business management and 18 years’ experience in direct to consumer experience marketing, Liz Mercer approaches the multiple needs of businesses and balances them with guests’ needs. Her career includes time with Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Gallo and a small, family-owned luxury brand. Liz is now the general manager of Bluxome Street Winery, an urban winery located in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco. With her breadth of experience, Liz can relate to the challenges faced by large, publicly traded wineries, corporate family-owned wineries, and smaller family-owned brands. She sees how different strategies work for different brands and can help implement the right solutions. She is also an active contributor and instructor for the WISE Academy, which seeks to grow the skills of DTC wine professionals and managers at all levels across the country.